


Old Friends

by brOken_records



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-28
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-07-18 19:30:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7327417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brOken_records/pseuds/brOken_records
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor has always avoided visiting those he's lost, but he'll make an exception in this case.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Old Friends

The Doctor

The Doctor had always loved the planet of the hats. It had rainbow hats, florescent hats and even fezzes. He fingered a dark red one for a moment, but then he noticed a bright pink hat. It brought to mind a woman who used to obsess over hats- a woman whose hair would clash with said hat. 

Later, he could not say what possessed him to do it. Suddenly he found himself in the town of Chiswick. He stood outside the café in which he had once met Wilfred. When he peeked through the frosted window, he spotted Wilfred at the table nearest the window. This is a bad idea, he thought. But somehow he could not stop himself. The Doctor pushed the door open, and settled in a corner that allowed him an unobstructed view of Wilfred. When the petite waitress came round, he ordered a-

“…flat white with two spoons of sugar- ta.”

“Alright, I’ll have it out in a couple of minutes.”

She smiled at him, before striding away. Alone with his thoughts, the Doctor eyed Wilfred. The kindly old man thanked another waitress for serving him his meal. The Doctor couldn’t help thinking of Donna; she had been one of his best friends in his previous regeneration. He wondered if she might recognise him, given the chance. But he knew that could never happen. He had personally wiped her mind- there was no restoring it-, and the Doctor knew that he wouldn’t even if he could. 

The coffee arrived a few minutes later. The Doctor thanked her, and took a sip. He gagged, I’d forgotten how much I hate coffee! He wiped his mouth with a napkin and sighed. He missed Donna so much, hell he missed all of them. Clara’s words on the TARDIS came back to him, as if from a great distance: “We’re all ghosts to you.” The Doctor closed his eyes. In his hearts he had known that she was right. Each time he took up a new companion, he just knew. He knew what their fates would be, what they would always be. All of them: Jo, Sarah Jane, Romana, Adric, Perry, Ace, Rose, Martha, Donna Rory, Amy… He was poison and it was time he realised it. He gulped down some more coffee, but this time the bitterness helped ease his mind. 

Soon after, he heard a loud ring tone. He glanced towards Wilfred’s corner and noticed that he had a phone pressed against his ear. He heard a few muttered words: “No hun…Okay… well, what about… okay yes dear I understand it’s important... yes, love you- see you soon.” Wilfred put his phone away, placed a five pound note on the table and then left the café. The Doctor considered going back to the TARDIS, but he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see Donna one last time. With a small sigh, he followed suit. 

He followed the old man down the streets of Chiswick. The Doctor tried to stay out of sight, he kept to the shadows, occasionally stepping under an overhang for extra cover. In his inevitable clumsiness he almost knocked over a bin, but his hand shot out at the last moment. Finally, the Doctor arrived outside of Wilfred’s house. He watched as Wilfred stepped inside, wiping his feet on the matt. This street had always seemed pretty normal to the Doctor, the last place any one would expect to find someone so brilliant as Donna. It was a paradox, she was a woman who had saved the Universe, and yet had no recollection of her own importance. His hearts tinged with the knowledge. 

He should have left then, but he could not leave- not yet. A lone blue Ford stood across from Donna’s house, and he sequestered himself behind it. Crouching down, he waited, waited for one last glimpse of his best friend. Soon enough, Donna appeared at one of the windows. She looked just like she always did. Her red hair splayed across her back, swishing to and fro as she yelled at someone. The Doctor smiled fondly; he had been on the receiving end of what he had termed the ‘Donna look’. A few moments later she was gone. 

The Doctor knew that it was December 15th, 2013. It was nearly Christmas. He could see the tree’s twinkling lights through the living room windows. He ran a hand though his hair, a tear ran down his cheek: Goodbye Donna Noble. His heart yearned to speak with Wilfred, to hear about dear old Donna- but his feet spoke for him. He padded away, walking out from behind the car, still wiping tears from his eyes. 

Wilfred Mott

Wilfred had had a busy morning. Donna was having problems at work, and had decided to stay with him and Sylvia for Christmas. From what Wilfred could make out, her boss was trying to cut hours, and he had made the mistake of choosing to drop Donna. His granddaughter had not taken the news well. It hadn’t been a career, but it had been a start. To lose that now…With a sigh, Wilfred let himself into the small café where he had once met the Doctor. He missed the alien, but more importantly he missed the person Donna was when he had been around. Sure she was still bossy, still charming, still the amazing woman she had always had been- but sometimes Wilfred caught her looking lost, like she had forgotten something. Wilfred shook himself from his stupor, he smiled at Margo who worked as a waitress there every Saturday through to Wednesday. 

She smiled right back, “The usual, Wilfred?”

“Yes thank you.” He replied. Wilfred was well liked in these parts. He was a friendly and easy going guy.

Soon enough, Margo had dropped his lunch and coffee on the table. Wilfred smiled in thanks before pulling out his knife and fork. He was half way through the eggs when a young man stepped through the door. Wilfred observed that this new man was tall and gangly; he wore a purple coat, a shirt, black pants and a bow tie. He seemed to have a nervous tick. Wilfred noticed that his hands would not stop twitching. As the young man ordered a coffee, Wilfred couldn’t help but think there was something vaguely familiar in his mannerisms. Especially in the way that he gagged on his coffee, and the way he kept stealing sideways glances at Wilfred. It seemed to Wilfred that his eyes were striking, dark yet bright. In fact they reminded him of-

But then his ringtone began to play. Wilfred accepted the call, and listened to his granddaughter on the other end of the line. She seemed to think that he was hiding from her. Wilfred smiled a little, but fought her off with a patience that had stemmed from watching her grow up into the woman that she was. “No hun…Okay… well, what about… okay yes dear I understand it’s important... yes, see you soon.” He hung up the phone, before leaving the café. His thoughts on the younger man had all but disappeared. 

****************************************

Wilfred watched silently as his daughter and granddaughter started their inevitable bickering. He would have intervened, but he knew that there was no true malice in their words. The two of them had reached an understanding years ago, it ad made the two of them far more amiable with one another. Eventually Wilfred wandered into the kitchen and leaned on the kitchen bench. He sighed, gazed out the window, and froze. The young man he had seen in the café was trying unsuccessfully to hide behind a car on the other side of the road. The man was staring at the window on the other side of the house, and Wilfred knew instinctively that he was staring at Donna. Somehow, Wilfred realised that the man was not a threat. In fact the way he looked at her- it wasn’t possessive or creepy, it was simply sorrowful, with a trace of longing. He had seen that look on someone else’s face once before. And he remembered what he had said all those years ago: “Everything I am dies.”

Wilfred stumbled out of the kitchen and into the hallway. He shrugged on his duffle coat, calling out as he left: “I’ll be back soon, just got to pop out!”  
He stepped out into the cold and saw that the young man had left. He was walking away, but Wilfred could have sworn that his upraised hand was wiping a tear from his eye. Wilfred hurried after him, finally calling out.

“Doctor!”

The man did not respond. Wilfred began to lose hope, but then he noticed that the other man’s shoulders had become tense, his steps faster. Wilfred rushed forward and touched the man shoulder. The man stopped for a moment, then turned around and Wilfred got a proper look at his face. He had a prominent square jaw, with high cheekbones, dark hair that was slicked to one side, eyes that were wide with unshed tears. And as Wilfred stared, he knew that this was the man his granddaughter had run away with. He may have a different face, Wilfred reflected sadly, but his thoughts were the same. Neither Wilfred nor the Doctor moved, they just watched each other- waiting. Wilfred knew what to do, he stood up straighter and saluted him. This man, the greatest man he would ever know. 

“Doctor,” he said. He turned to go, but the Doctor stopped him. The time lord gently spun him round and faced him solemnly. 

“Wilfred,” he acknowledged with a nod. “You inspired me to be better when everyone else had left or given up on me. You were a good man, even when I couldn’t be, and for that I thank you.”

And with that, the Doctor hugged him close. When they pulled apart, Wilfred spluttered: “But you said-“

“I said that ‘Everything I am dies’, but that wasn’t true.” Here an old smile graced his face, ”The way I see it, my body may change, along with my mind- but what is in my hearts will never change. Same software, different casing. Thank you, Wilfred.” The Doctor brought his hand up, and saluted Wilfred before turning away and disappearing into the frost. Wilfred made no move to follow him. His heart felt ten times lighter as he headed back to his house. The Doctor was still alive.


End file.
